Berkeley: Flats or Hills? (Oakland, Richmond: renting, houses, public schools)

[snarkadoodle]

Ok, so we're officially making the move to the East Bay this summer, and we've decided to focus on renting in Berkeley for now.

It seems like a family of four with a dog would have more luck finding a home that fits our needs in the Hills (as opposed to the more urban areas of Berkeley), but maybe I'm wrong. Anybody out there have an opinion on living in either area?

FWIW, we are living in in a pretty busy, urban area right now, which we love. I enjoy walking to grocery stores, coffee, restaurants, etc., and I like the energy of having people around us a lot. But we're wondering if we should test out living in a more quiet area, with possibly more of a yard and more space (like a garage, for example). Since we're renting, I'm not too worried about making a big mistake, but I would love to hear any words of wisdom from more experienced folks. Thank you!

[jade408]

A lot of the areas in the hills aren't really walkable:
1. Really steep hills
2. Pretty far from the commercial districts

The places near highway 13/Claremont are probably the best of the "hills" in terms of access since it is a lot closer to Elmwood and the mini commercial area on Claremont street that I never remember the name of near 13. That's not too steep or to far from the commercial areas.

Most houses in Berkeley have a garage in either area. There are a lot of small garages in the urban east bay. Meaning a Honda Civic is about the biggest car you can fit, since the homes are older. The "hills" is where the newer homes are. You can find a backyard in most single family homes all over the city.

[rkwalton]

You might want to consider the Elmwood area of Berkeley or North Berkeley (the Gourmet Ghetto area). Both areas have houses with yards and are close enough to commercial areas that you're not completely miserable. There is also the Rockridge area of Oakland and Albany near Solano that are similar to.

For me, I'm consoled when I'm bemoaning leaving NYC, which is a 24/7 city, being near the cute commercial areas of Berkeley.

[mayorhaggar]

Really depends on your budget, whether you need good public schools for the kids, and where you need to commute to. If all that works for Berkeley then by all means check it out.

A good rule of thumb is that anywhere hilly will not really be walkable and there will be much less likelihood of there being shops and restaurants and grocery stores nearby. If you're ok with that and don't need great public schools and don't want to spent Berkeley Hills prices, then maybe the Oakland Hills would be better. Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga could work too and have good schools but are not really cheap (Berkeley can be pretty outrageous though), they're suburban, not funky like Berkeley is, but they're more suburban houses scattered around pretty rolling hills rather than endless blah beige tract homes with plasticky trees like you see somewhere like around Dublin or Walnut Creek. Albany and Alameda are also good shouts and are flat.

Elmwood is nice but it's really, really expensive, like a million bucks for a basic house, North Berkeley isn't far behind. Rockridge is almost identical to Elmwood and is more like $600,000+ for a basic house.

El Cerrito might work too but it might come back to public schools if that is a priority for you. I know people who live in the hills of Richmond, they like it a lot, very quiet and far from the crappy parts of their city, and it's really affordable, but they do need to drive everywhere like you would in the hills of Berkeley or Oakland.